Vermaak 88
Vermaak 88,inFamous 2 often referred to as The Ice Gang, The Ice Freaks, or The Ice Soldiers by several of the citizens at New Marais, is a large South African based private Military company hired by Joseph Bertrand for experimentation, initially for protection. It is reported that Vermaak 88 had extended 43 percent of its operations in the last five years and had become one of the largest private Military contractors in the world due, in part, to lucrative government contracts with the United States Military during the War in Iraq. Biography Becoming Conduits The organization had paid Joseph Bertrand III to become test subjects in his experiments with making Forced Conduits, hoping to use their new powers to utilize on the battlefield and increase their skills. Unknown to the Vermaak soldier test subjects, Bertrand planned to use Vermaak for his own benefits. When Vermaak were tranferred to New Marais, where the experiments were to be held, Bertrand kidnapped Lucy Kuo, and brought out her Conduit abilities through experiments. Bertrand had her strapped into the Power Transfer Device and unlocked her Cryokinesis abilities and transferred them into Vermaak 88. The process was successful as all Vermaak soldiers gained her Cyrokinesis powers. Escape Though gaining Cyrokinesis abilities, they only gained a fraction of Kuo's powers. The Vermaak were then stored in cells, keeping them contained, preventing escape and allowing Bertrand to carry out his true plans for the Vermaak. Cole later broke into the facillity used to contain the Vermaak to free a captured Kuo, though accidentally deactivating 88's cells as well. With this, Vermaak soldiers broke free from their cyrogenic containtment cells. Vermaak troops escaped in rage and began to engage the Militia standing guard. Subsequently, the Vermaak soldiers scattered across New Marais areas such as the St. Charles Cemetery. Though pursued by Militia, Vermaak was able to easily evade them. Terrorizing New Marais Vermaak soon assembled together and established themselves in Flood Town. As Sebastian Wolfe predicted, Vermaak wore their bodies out trying to sustain the powers they gained, and descended into insanity. The Vermaak, however believed Blast Cores would make them sane again and began looking for them. They were eventually successful in finding one, but had failed to obtain it. Vermaak continued to rampage in Flood Town. Resorting to terrorizing and mugging civilians, taking hostages, stealing medical supplies, and capturing groups of Militia. A defecting soldier from the 88 however, established contact with Cole. The soldier lead Cole to several Blast Shards, thus starting an alliance. Soon Vermaak became prominent in the Gas Works, where they covered most of the district. They then began to descend further into insanity as feared and reached higher stages of mutation, a side affect of gaining their powers. When John White, now known as the Beast, was near New Marais, many Vermaak soldiers fought him as he approached the city, though this proved unsuccessful. Soon the defecting Vermaak troop and Cole rampaged through the warehouses and killed many Vermaak soldiers in the process. The Vermaak were able to secure several Blast Shards for themselves, and a Blast Core, however, they were stolen by Cole, thwarting many of their operations. Conduit Arms Race The Vermaak, however, were soon ready to become apart of Bertrand's ultimate plan: Vermaaks troops, along with Corrupted, were being held in cryogenic containment and were to be sold and shipped all across the world by Bertrand to wealthy warlords, allowing them to use the Forced Conduits in the battlefield. Nations would soon start fighting for control over the Forced Conduits, kick-starting a new arms race in the process and causing a conduit genocide. With hundreds of Vermaak soldiers already being loading onto cargo ships in the New Marais habour, Bertrand was ready to have them transported across the world until the boat engines were dismantled by Cole, greatly sabotaging Bertrand's plan. Meanwhile the defecting member of Vermaak 88 eventualley lost his sanity also and started rampaging through New Marias harming civillians but he was finally killed by Cole MacGrath and Lucy Kuo and the NMPD. Defeat die.]] Still having one Blast Core left in their possession, Vermaak's leader, the General, attempted use the core to make the Faction "whole". In his final confrontation with Vermaak, Cole proceeded to find, kill the general, and collect the core. In the process, he fought and defeated dozens of Vermaak soldiers. The Ice General then fled with the Blast Core, and in the process was close to death. Choosing his life over the core, he initially dropped it before escaping. Despite their failures against Cole, Vermaak remained active in New Marais, continuing to terrorize certain areas of New Marais. After Cole activated the Ray Field Inhibitor, however, Vermaak along with the Corrupted and everyone on Earth with the Conduit gene were killed, ending the Faction. Continued activity In an alternate timeline, Cole instead sided with John White and decided to create a world of Conduits. With this, Vermaak 88 remained partly active in New Marais, though their eventual fate was uncertain. Weapons * Assault Rifle: The assault rifle is a weapon that is frequently carried by the standard Ice Conduits. The Vermaak soldiers have a good and quick aim, and an automatic firing mechanism on the weapon can deal a substantial amount of damage to Cole, even with a small squad of soldiers. Ice Conduits with assault rifles frequently protect themselves with their Frost Shield ability when attacking. * Shotgun: The shotgun is another weapon frequently used by Ice Conduits, and their Ice Dash ability allows the soldiers to quickly dash to their foes and execute them with a shotgun blast at close range. A soldier wielding this weapon can be a great threat to Cole as, in addition to large amount of damage it deals, it can easily knock him off his feet. * Rocket-Propelled Grenade Launcher: The Vermaak soldiers wield this weapon a lot less frequently than the other factions in the series, especially when compared to the Militia. The weapon has a devastating amount of damage if it hits it's target directly, has a large range for splash damage, and can stun Cole or knock him off his feet, leaving him vulnerable for a short period of time. However, Cole can use his Blast ability to redirect the rockets and possibly hit other enemies. * Grenades: The Vermaak 88 members often throw grenades to flush Cole out from cover. They deal exactly the same amount of damage as the ones utilized by the Militia, and are extremely dangerous if Cole is anywhere near the blast radius. Even if Cole is at the edge, the explosion can knock him down, although it doesn't do as much damage. * Shield: '''The Vermaak produce ice shields from their arms and use the assault rifle mentioned above to fire at the side. The shield can be broken with just one melee attack but when not in close combat, they can re-produce the shield again. Ranks The Vermaak 88 consisted of different "ranks" that could be fit in these categories: Ice Soldiers, Ice Heavies, Crus hers and Titans. * '''Ice Soldier: The least mutated and the most common form of Vermaak soldiers, light Vermaak troops possess a basic range of Cryokinesis abilities, such as Ice Launch and Frost Shield variants. Light infantry wear long white suits with areas of black/gray padding, black combat boots, gloves, and metal masks. Additionally, standard Vermaak have gas tanks on their backs. Standard Vermaak soldiers also use a large variety of weapons, such as assault rifles, shotguns, and RPGs. * Ice Heavy: At the second stage in their mutation, their skeletal structure becomes much than normal humans and they have larger muscles; their Cyrokinesis abilities are also more advanced and more powerful than the lighter soldiers, while the standard Ice Soldiers use their abilities for defensive purposes, the heavy Ice Soldiers use their powers for offensive purposes as well. With their larger frame, they need a different, larger armor set. Heavy Vermaak infantry has similar armor to their lighter counterparts, such as the gloves, boots, etc. However, their masks differ from the light infantry's masks and their respirator is of a large and circular build. Heavy Vermaak soldiers do not use weapons; they instead rely on their advanced Cryokinesis abilities. Heavy infantry do not need to use Ice Launch anymore as they can leap buildings with their own strength, they can shoot Ice Beam at their enemies, as well as create Ice Pillars under their feet to gain higher grounds against their enemies. * Crusher: Mutated even further, Crushers have the same build as the heavy infantry. However, Crusher's arms and shoulders are formed entirely from ice and Crusher's do not wear metallic masks. Crusher's utilize variants of Ice Launch, Ice Throw and Ionic Freeze. Despite a Crusher's size, they have great speed and often rely on melee attacks in close combat. * Titan: The last stage of their mutation, Titans are formed entirely from ice and no longer wear Vermaak military attire. Relying entirely on their Cyrokinesis abilities in battle, Titans possess Ionic Freeze, Ice Throw and Ice Beam powers. However, Titans are far slower than the other Vermaak stages and use melee attacks. Titans also have the ability to replace their arms if ripped off in battle. At this stage in their development, it is generally believed they have lost what was left of their sanity. Trivia * "Vermaak" roughly translates to "entertainment" in both Afrikaans and Dutch. * Vermaak 88 actually mispronounce their name in-game. * It seems members use Cryokinesis in very simple ways such as making ice shields, dashing, and using Ice Launch to escape battle. * Some of the Vermaak units referred to Cole as the "Prime Conduit". * The Vermaak 88 is creatable in UGC, and will act hostile towards anybody. * The Vermaak Conduits' powers are generally weaker than Kuo's due to the fact that theirs were spread over all of them at once from a single person. * The Vermaak 88 mercenaries bear a striking similarity to the Hellsing's Last Battalion. Basically being nothing more than weaker copies of the original, for the sole purpose of war. * It is possible that Vermaak uniforms are rubber insulated granting them increased resistance from Cole's attacks, explaining why they can take so many blasts from Cole. * As Cole got Kuo out of the lab she was imprisoned in, the Vermaak would show in the area, only attacking the Militia and using Ice Launch as long the touch the ground. They completely ignore Cole and Kuo, and Cole can't attack them. They will disappear from the area after the mission ends. * They use exactly the same assault rifles and rocket launchers as the Militia. * They scream out orders, such as flanking or outnumbering Cole, although they never do it. ** They may surround Cole, but this only happens near the Ice Tower. * The Vermaak are only seen fighting Rebels, Police and Corrupted in Flood Town while they are seen fighitng the Militia in Gas Works. * The rifles and shotguns wielded by the Vermakk 88 appear to be based on the Remington ACRs and the Franchi SPAS-12 combat shotgun. Gallery Infantry-type IceSoldier Monster.jpg|Early designs for the basic Vermaak 88 units. IceSoldier Monster2.jpg IceSoldier More.jpg IceSoldier Soldier.jpg VermaakConcept.jpg|Concept art of what would later be the standard Vermaak 88 infantry design. VermaakConcept2.jpg Heavier units VermaakVulcanRaven.jpg|Concept art of the Ice Heavy. VermaakIce.jpg MoreGolems.jpg|Concept art of the Ice Golem (later known as Titan). IceGolem1.jpg Scrapped designs IceElite.jpg|The Ice Elite concept art. IceElite2.jpg|Another variation of the Ice Elite. IceEliteVariant.jpg IceEliteVariant2.jpg References ﻿ Source InFamous 2 es:Hombres de Hielo Category:Vermaak 88 Category:Factions Category:InFamous 2 Factions Category:Conduits Category:Cryokinesis Category:InFamous 2 Category:Enemies Category:Good Karma Enemies